Alfonso de Portago
Ferrari 860 Monza, 1957 | |
Born | Alfonso Antonio Vicente Eduardo Angel Blas Francisco de Borja Cabeza de Vaca y Leighton 11 October 1928 London, England |
---|---|
Died | 12 May 1957 (aged 28) Cavriana, Lombardy, Italy |
Formula One World Championship career | |
Nationality | ![]() |
Active years | 1956 – 1957 |
Teams | Ferrari |
Entries | 5 |
Championships | 0 |
Wins | 0 |
Podiums | 1 |
Career points | 4 |
Pole positions | 0 |
Fastest laps | 0 |
First entry | 1956 French Grand Prix |
Last entry | 1957 Argentine Grand Prix |
Signature | ![]() |
Alfonso Cabeza de Vaca y Leighton, 11th Marquess of Portago,
and pilot.Born in
At age 17, Portago began displaying his flamboyant lifestyle by winning a $500 bet after flying a borrowed plane under London Tower Bridge.[4] He twice rode the Grand National as "gentleman rider" and formed the first Spanish bobsleigh team with his cousins, finishing 4th in the 1956 Winter Olympics, shaving the bronze medal by 0.14 seconds.[5]
In 1953, he was introduced into the Scuderia Ferrari team, competing at the Carrera Panamericana, 1000 km Buenos Aires and several Grand Prix, including a win and second place at the 1956 Tour de France Automobile and 1956 British Grand Prix respectively.
His promising career was cut short in May 1957 after his renowned Ferrari 335 S crashed near the village of Guidizzolo when a tyre burst while driving along a dead straight road at 150 mph (240 km/h) in the 1957 running of the Mille Miglia, killing Portago, his navigator, and nine spectators.[6] The young age of the marquess who was 28 at the time of his death combined with his status as a sex symbol[7] caused a shock amongst many, having several tributes and landmarks named after him, most notably the "Portago curve" at Jarama racetrack.[8]
The Marquess of Portago was seen by many as a true
Biography
Early life
Portago was born in
Portago was dark-haired and had freckles and blue eyes.
Race car driver
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0d/Casa_de_Beneficencia_y_Maternidad_de_La_Habana._Cuba_Grand_Prix.2._Havana_1957.jpg/220px-Casa_de_Beneficencia_y_Maternidad_de_La_Habana._Cuba_Grand_Prix.2._Havana_1957.jpg)
Portago began racing sports cars in 1953 after his meeting with the Ferrari importer in the USA, Luigi Chinetti, who asked him to be his co-driver in the Carrera Panamericana.[14] He later raced alone in a personal Ferrari Sport model at the 1954 1000 km Buenos Aires.[14] Portago won six major races, including the Tour de France automobile race, the Grand Prix of Oporto, and the Nassau Governor's Cup (twice). In Nassau, during the winter of 1956, Portago trailed the car ahead of him by centimeters while travelling at 240 km/h. Portago used his skill to avert careening into a crowd after the driver ahead of him touched his brakes and both cars went into a 180 m skid. Among sports car enthusiasts, Portago was known as a two-car man, because of the many burned-out brakes, clutches, transmissions, and wrecked cars for which he was responsible. He often needed several cars to finish a race.[16]
He participated in 5 World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 1 July 1956. His best result was a second place at the 1956 British Grand Prix (a shared drive with Peter Collins), and scored a total of four championship points. In 1953 he raced with Chinetti in the Carrera Panamericana. During a sprint at Silverstone in 1955, Portago was thrown from his Ferrari while racing at 140 km/h after losing control on a patch of oil. He was hospitalized with a broken leg.[16][20]
Bobsleigh
Medal record | ||
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Bobsleigh | ||
Representing ![]() | ||
World Championships | ||
![]() |
1957 St. Moritz | Two-man |
He also was a
Portago also won a bronze medal in the two-man event at the 1957 FIBT World Championships in St. Moritz.
Death
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8f/1957-05-12_Mille_Miglia_Ferrari_335S_0646_Portago_Nelson.jpg/220px-1957-05-12_Mille_Miglia_Ferrari_335S_0646_Portago_Nelson.jpg)
He and his co-driver Edmund Nelson were killed on 12 May 1957
As T.C. Browne wrote, "The inevitable happened when Alfonso [...] de Portago stopped alongside the course, ran to the fence, kissed Linda Christian, ran back to his Ferrari and drove on to his destiny, killing himself, his co-driver, 10 spectators, and the Mille Miglia".[26]
Once Portago commented, "I won't die in an accident. I'll die of old age or be executed in some gross miscarriage of justice". Nelson countered this assertion, saying Portago would not live to be 30. According to Nelson, "every time Portago comes in from a race the front of his car is wrinkled where he has been nudging people out of the way at 130 mph (210 km/h)".[16]
Legacy
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/76/Memorial_MM.jpg/220px-Memorial_MM.jpg)
The Portago curve at the
Personal life
In 1949, when he was only twenty, Portago married American former model Carroll McDaniel (by whom he had two children). McDaniel was several years older than Portago and they barely knew each other. She subsequently married the philanthropist Milton Petrie. One of Portago's daughters is photographer Andrea Portago, who was on the June 1977 cover of Andy Warhol's Interview magazine. His son, Anthony (1954–1990), was a stockbroker who married in 1973 (and divorced in 1978) Sorbonne-educated society fundraiser and costume and set designer Barbara, daughter of German nobleman Henrik von Schlubach, partner in Schlubach Exporting and Importing Company in Hamburg. His ex-wife Florence Van der Kemp (née Harris), was president of the Versailles-Claude Monet Foundation in New York and daughter of the late Rear Admiral Frederic R. Harris, of Washington and New York. Her stepfather, Gérald van der Kemp, was a curator who restored the Palace of Versailles.[27][28][29] Barbara de Portago subsequently married, in 1984, actor and playwright Jason Harrison Grant;[30] after their divorce she married in 1991 (divorced 1994) investment banker William James Tapert.[31][32][33]
Supposedly, Carroll McDaniel and Alfonso de Portago were in the process of getting a divorce so he could legitimize his invalid Mexican marriage to
Complete Formula One World Championship results
(key)
Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | WDC | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1956 | Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari D50 | Ferrari V8 | ARG | MON | 500 | BEL | FRA Ret |
GBR 2 † |
GER Ret |
ITA Ret |
15th | 3 |
1957 | Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari D50A | Ferrari V8 | ARG 5 * |
MON | 500 | FRA | GBR | GER | PES | ITA | 20th | 1 |
- † Indicates shared drive with Peter Collins
- * Indicates shared drive with José Froilán González
Titles
- 11th Marquess of Portago[35]
- Grandee of Spain
- 13th Count of la Mejorada[36]
Heraldry
- Heraldry of Alfonso de Portago
-
Coat of Arms as Marquess of Portago (1943-1957)
In popular culture
Film
- Brazilian actor Gabriel Leone portrayed Portago in the 2023 biopic Ferrari.[37]
See also
References
- ^ "Motorsport Memorial - Alfonso de Portago". Motorsport Memorial. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
- ^ Vanity Fair: Portago, el ahijado de Alfonso XIII (y primo de Isabel Sartorius) que amaba la velocidad - 19 August 2018
- ^ ABC: Golf en "Puerta de Hierro" - 20 February 1932
- ^ Stephane Groueff: My Odyssey p. 182
- ^ The Rake: Full Marquess - Alfonso de Portage - November 2016 - Ed Cripps
- ^ Marquis Alfonso de Portago dies in a holocaust which probably spells the end of the Mille Miglia, greatest of all the open-road auto races.
- ^ McDonough 2006, pp. 3–6.
- ^ Robert Grey Reynolds Jr: Marqués de Portago - Spanish Ferrari Driver and Playboy p. 18
- ^ Elson, James (August 4, 2022). "Legendary playboy de Portago's Ferrari F1 car goes up for sale". Motor Sport Magazine. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
- ^ Verbo, E. (August 26, 2017). "El hijo de Soledad Cabeza de Vaca, marquesa de Moratalla, denuncia su "secuestro"". El Mundo. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
- ^ Luque, Xavier G. (June 17, 2022). "De Paco Godia a la trágica muerte de Alfonso de Portago". La Vanguardia. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
- ^ Movistar+ - Informe Robinson: Marqués de Portago (Ed McDonough on Portago)
- ISBN 978-1-9332-3100-6.
- ^ a b c d e "Alfonso Antonio Vicente Eduardo Angel Blas Francisco de Borja Cabeza de Vaca y Leighton, marchese di Portago". Archived from the original on 2 July 2013. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
- ^ a b "Daredevil Sportsman Perishes", Los Angeles Times, May 13, 1957, Page 1.
- ^ a b c d e f "Marquess at the Wheel", The New York Times, March 17, 1957, Page SM40.
- ^ "Marquesa de Moratalla, owner of Gold Cup hero The Fellow, dies aged 87". Racing Post.
- ISBN 9780385143318.
- ^ McDonough 2006, p. 6.
- ^ "What Killed Alfonso de Portago and the Mille Miglia?". classiccarsforsale.squarespace.com. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
- ^ a b Viva F1. "Formula One at the Olympics". Archived from the original on 2012-08-08. Retrieved 2012-07-26.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b Forix (retrieved 24 October 2012)
- ^ Purdy, Ken W. (August 1957). "Portago". Sports Cars Illustrated. 3 (2): 65.
- ^ Or fourth-place, media did not make it clear at the time Forix (retrieved 24 October 2012)
- ^ Full Marquis: Alfonso de Portago
- ISBN 0-8227-5092-9, p. 233.
- ^ Wicker, Tom (28 December 1979). "Barbara de Portago, 'a Real Doer' With a Flair for Parties". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
- ^ "After Growing Up at Versailles, Barbara De Portago Has Become the Sun Queen of New York Society". people.com. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
- ^ Lewis, Paul (9 April 2018). "Gerald Van der Kemp, 89, Versailles' Restorer". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
- ^ "Barbara de Portago Wed to J. H. Grant". The New York Times. 1984-11-27. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
- ^ "Barbara de Portago, Consultant, Wed". The New York Times. 1991-10-05. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
- ^ Staff, WWD (19 October 1994). "Article October 19, 1994". wwd.com. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
- ^ Yazigi, Monique P. (27 June 1999). "Not Just Another Working Girl". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
- ^ Leigh, Dorian. The Girl Who Had Everything, pp. 113–114, 128.
- ^ Diccionario de la Real Academia de la Historia (DBE) Biografías: Alfonso Cabeza de Vaca y Leighton
- ^ Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE) - 26 June 1952
- ^ "Michael Mann Gabriel Leone Alfonso De Portago Racer Role". Deadline. 14 July 2022.
Bibliography
- Dolcini, Carlo (2011-09-15). Alfonso de Portago. L'ultima corsa. Silea. ISBN 978-88-7911-532-2.
- McDonough, Edward (2006). Marqués de Portago: La Leyenda. Mercian Manuals Ltd. ISBN 978-19-03088-27-2.
- Wallechinsky, David (1984). "Bobsled: Two-man". The Complete Book of the Olympics: 1896 – 1980. New York: Penguin Books. p. 558.
External links
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